I had worked with Cindy Ruby while in-house at the Cimarron Group doing Theatrical Advertising, and she contacted me after she left to help design out a nice 3D logo for a familys business with a 3D logo.

My typical clients are Theatrical in nature, though a good 25% of my work is in the corporate world, and not just a larger businesses like, Norm's Restaurant, Countrywide or Lotus North America, but smaller one with a dozen employees or so as well, so I was ready to go.

I can typically get a logo like this done in a half a day, to just one day and the cost is reasonable for a smaller firm, if they can give me the room to design within the budget as I had here.

For Ruby Construction, I did a few large Icons with the scaffolding on them as well as a full 3D type treatment for the firm in a few angles for various usage. This was a half day project delivered. I finished up with the full type rendered out at various angles and perspectives for differing applications. A fun fast little corporate 3D logo project done in about 4-5 Hrs.

I was asked to create a 3D Animated Motion Graphics Title treatment for the advertising for the film Pathfinder[ 2007] in the winter of 2006 for the Motion Graphics team at The Cimarron Group.

I was given the shots from the film and had to recreate an iconic sword used in the film that they wanted to have the title float over.

I built out the 3D Model, lit and textured it with some damage and cuts to the object, as well as getting to use some sub-surface scattering materials with the drops of blood on the blade.

I rendered out the 100 frame move in HD, and delivered it to the Dept. for the finals, a fun and quick one day project which is typical in how I work with exisiting Motion Graphics teams in that I deliver the RAW 3D renders, ready for them to composite into the After Effects project file one I am done.

Back in 07' I was in-house at The Cimarron Group regularly providing 3D Motion Graphics frames to the division for various TV and Theatrical spots, and I was asked to help out on a large 15 second move for a TV spot for the new Simpsons Movie, so today I am covering this space misdirect.

In advertising they will often ask for a misdirect campaign ad where the ad has nothing to do with the film until a reveal at the end, and in this case they wanted a move thru space ending with the satellite bouncing off camera revealing a Springfield logo on it and we'd slam the Simpsons logo all over the frame to end it.

I had an earth made and ready to go, along with a 3D starfield from FANBOYS here, so I combined all the assets and built high resolution maps for the other planets and mocked up a simple Satellite and set this up.

Final renders were rendered for the spot overnight at the time, and I delivered the piece and it was aired back on TV in 07'.

In
this, my fifth posting on the work I did for the newer[ now old!]
Herbie film starring Lindsey Lohan and Justin Long, today I've posted a look at a Motion Graphics [ MGFX] render pass that I planned to do in glass of that famous 1963 VW.

If you check out my reel on the link to the right you will see a transition we did for the Herbie from fully rendered to an X-ray type of material. Originally we planned to go glass so the team I worked with was familiar with the X-Ray PPK I did at BLT prior and wanted to see that look in motion.

However back in 2005 when I built this motion graphic piece the render times were not forgiving so it was deemed too long a render for the production. What is nice is I opened the scene in 3D Studio Max 2013, hit render and they went very fast as the software and hardware has advanced quite a bit in the last 8 years so I was done to 8 minutes a frame in glass at 3/4 HR rez.

X-Ray modeling is done when you know up front that you will see thru the objects so you build out everything internal and two sided, and for Herbie we had all sorts of plans to fly thru the tailpipe inside the engine and around the interior and speedometer.

I included the painted render pass as well as a reference for the transition.

My First four other posts on the VW build itself, are here, along with this and this, and this.

After successfully getting an account with Lotus North America for the US Launch of the new Elise back in 2004, we then pursued the California Honda Dealers Association to provide advertising for them, so we did a pitch package that included some virtual cars, as well as 3D Motion Graphic as we will look at today.

I first built out a 3D model of the Honda logo for the spots, that was built as an all subdivision surface, so we could do very high resolution renders of the piece for close ups and print work. I also used this same model for the particle system base object that I set up for the creation of the Motion Graphics background for the various cards we did for the presentation.

The piece was a simple background of multiple Honda hood crest logos floating is space with a volumetric light effect to have streams of light playing on the surfaces. I rendered it out in a two pass format with a full render and a specular render so we could isolate the highlight to add post effects in Motion Graphic. I also did a Hero shot render of the final framed logo at rest as well.

I also rendered various Honda Car Models in 3D as both photo-real 3D renders, as well as a stylized cartoon shaded looks, to show the capabilities of the 3D virtual automotive solutions we were offering along with the MGFX.

I will have future posts covering those looks as well. I did eventually move ahead to work on the 2009 Accord pitch, and that can bee seen here.

This
is PART IV covering my 3D Design work I did for the Theatrical
Advertising done on Dreamworks 3D animated feature, Monsters vs. Aliens
from back in the Late Fall of 2008, and Winter of 2009 while I was the
in-house 3D Design Director at The Cimarron Group, and today I have button designs from the 3D Logo portion.

We referred to the film as MVA[ short for Monsters versus Aliens], and the client asked for some buttons and 3D Logos with just the initials, and not the full title as well as what we already delivered, so I was provided with vector Illustrator files from the Print Division and some base direction and off I went.

I played around with the various looks for the buttons similar to what I have posted for the main titles from the glossy typically bright toon styled ones, to a more sinister and darker look as well.

Back in the late Fall of 2008 the Theatrical Print Division @ Cimarron wanted to do a pitch for the new Liberace Film being considered, "Behind the Candelabra", and what I was asked to build out besides the 3D Logos, was to construct a fully detailed model of the Grand Baldwin Piano used by Liberace. They also wanted to do some versions in crystal[ glass] and a regular black on black look, but they wanted it to show all the parts inside, so that meant a full X-Ray model build out, not just a shell model.

An X-Ray model is one which you build out all internal parts anticipating the fact that they will be seen, and being this is a crystal piano we'd see all the internals. I did this in the past here, and here, and since they had seen my PPK I did for Bond they wanted to do the same for this with my 3D Illustrations.

I referenced the Baldwins Liberace played and I began to create the parts inside bit by bit. As a trained Industrial Designer over half of what I do is a form of reverse engineering as I must create the parts to look relativly functional, so I must have some understanding of how the part functions so I study cut away diagrams, and How it is made books. It heped that I have a vintage upright at home so I could lift the lid and take a look up close here as well.

What you see are the various 3D Renders I provided for the comp presentations with the Baldwin.

BabelFish Universal Translator Widget

About Me

Trained in Transportation Design at Pasadena’s Art Center College of Design, I have worked for the past 24 years in every facet of Entertainment Design as Conceptual Designer, up to Design Director. I am currently running my design studio full time out of my home in Littleton, CO.
In the past, I have orchestrated teams as large as 100 on an international level , and as small as a few artists. Art Center gave me the formal training in Industrial Design via sketching and modeling to execute my designs.
The variety within the Entertainment Industry that I have been involved with includes: Television Commercial Set Design, 2D Animation Television Series, Restaurant Design and Illustration, Real Time 3D Interactive Gaming, Online 3D Web interface, CD ROM Magazine Design, Theme Park Attraction Design, and finally ending up in Entertainment based Advertising for Theatrical Films.
I have experience starting up both 2D, and 3D design departments, as well as moving into existing studio infrastructures of operation and working within established systems already in place.